The MasterCard Blockchain launches with the principles of Privacy, Flexibility, Scalability, and Reach – the Blockchain shares transaction details only between participants, and will be integrated into MasterCard’s payment network which includes some 22,000 financial institutions.

While the API can be leveraged for payment solutions, the system could also be used to help authenticate products on a supply chain through proof of provenance.

Beyond the release of its API, MasterCard has further filed over thirty-five patents in Blockchain, and recently joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance in a bid to explore use cases outside the score of the firm’s traditional payments environments.

Another patent revealed that the firm has made further investigations into providing refund services for cryptocurrency users.

The public release of the company’s BlockChain API, while limited to business-to-business transactions at present, could be a strong indicator that the firm is readying a move into peer-to-peer payments using popular cryptocurrencies.